Inheritance
-Life used to be peaceful for Panacea. Her time was spent fixing who needed to be fixed, and otherwsie studying her craft and socializing. She was content with her place and position, content with the law. Things were simple. But ever since the mining facility of her home town was automated, things have changed. First she moved to Kaon, then Ibex, and now she's having to move again. With a sigh she starts packing up her things. The more she moves 'up' in life, the foggier it becomes. As far as she's concerned, the higher castes can have their luxuries and their intrigues; she has no real hankering for them. Then again, she's always been comfortably middle caste, so why should she try to buck the system? -There's quite a lot of equipment, prototypes, samples, and other research materials to get piled onto a transport bound for Altihex. She's not working alone, of course there are drones to do the heavier lifting and a few of the techs who had worked with her and are content to follow the project wherever it went. The drones are working on packing the spark chambers into a large crate at the moment, though most of the manual labor has been handled. Which leaves the -other- part Highrise mentioned, that being the data transfer and scrub. If Panacea has gone through any of the files she was recently granted access to, she will have learned the real reason behind everything Cipher had been after: an unstoppable task force, designed to mete out the Senate's version of justice on the populace... Perhaps Cipher's successor had been chosen quite well. -Panacea still detests violence, and making a task force is NOT really to her personal tastes. But she's also not one of those brave souls that are interested in putting herself in harm's way to make a point. Perhaps, if she does her job well enough, things will return to normal. It's not the way she wants to go, but then again, it wasn't really her idea to be doing this in the first place. Either way, she isn't interested in rebellion. That leaves the law, so for now she'll be a good little femme and do as she's told. While she's not a computer genius, she'll move the data and scrub it as best as she knows how. Then have someone else on the project go through her work with a fine toothed comb to make sure she didn't miss something. -As Panacea is going through the files and transferring them, she stumbles across something with her name on it. Perhaps something he'd left behind for her personally? It appears to be a program of some sort. -Panacea hmmms. Maybe it's something to help her scrub? After all, she's used to dealing with living machines, not the nonsentient variety. Checking to make sure everything else is moving along smoothly, she indulges in a few minutes for herself to examine this program. -When she opens the program, a holographic projector near the console activates, and an image of Cipher appears. It nods in greeting. "Panacea." And it's Cipher's voice speaking as well. -Alright, not quite what she was expecting. After a moment of being startled, she looks at the holo-imager. Then she looks at the screen to see if she can figure out what the rammifications of the program is. Or even it's purpose. -It appears to be a form of virtual intelligence programmed by Cipher himself to resemble his own personality and mannerisms. Well, there's her instruction manual...of sorts. The VI chuckles at her startled looks. "I am VIM-0385. Don't be alarmed, you're not seeing things--I was created to provide answers to any questions you may have regarding Cipher's work. I know not many others were any more well-informed than you yourself, Panacea, so I will do my best to reflect your former supervisor's wishes." -"Letters and numbers aren't very friendly; I'll probably just address you as Cipher out of habit," Panacea says. "I guess you can't really know anything that's happened since you were programed, hm?" she inquires of the VI dryly. "No one has that level of programming skill." -The VI shrugs. "Fine with me. You may call me by whatever name you wish, as long as you inform me that you will be using the desired name to address me in the future." "Unfortunately, no. I know only that I have been activated, which must mean that my create has either disappeared or perished somehow." -Panacea nods her head solemnly. "That is the case. Though, on Cybertron, often disappeared means someone isn't coming back, for whatever reason," she says. "So that means it falls to me to keep working on this stuff." She sighs. "I suppose he must have known something might happen or he wouldn't have left you to me." -The VI nods. "Yes, he did suspect that something might happen to him. He was aware that there were dissenters...many of whom are violent. He was also instructed to make preparations; the Senate was very intent on making sure none of this fell through. But he trusted you, and what's more he must have seen a bit of his own vision in you." The image smiles. "So, how are things?" it finally asks. "Our test subjects? What of our first, the fast one?" -Panacea shrugs her shoulders. "As well as can be expected I guess," she says with pursed lips. "It's a fine line to walk when dealing with people. If you take away too much of who they are, they can't think as well, but if you allow them to think, they just might disagree with you," she notes. "I think it will be some time before a perfect balance is reached," she admits. - "Hmm." The VI nods, putting its hands behind its back and pacing a little. "Indeed. He's quite lost, isn't he? It's to be expected." A pause. "You're right. It seems the programming has failed somehow. Thus, perhaps that is not the best route. Perhaps we need to...truly indoctrinate him, instead of programming him." The image stops pacing and faces Panacea. "You believe in minimizing violence, don't you?" -"I do. Or, rather, minimizing unnecessary deaths to be exact," Panacea says. "But the more people lose themselves to violence the more likely it is that a lot of people will die when they don't have to. People can be healed, or rehabilitated, or changed, but once they're dead, that's it: they're gone." She shrugs her shoulders. "Maybe it's just because it's my function to heal, maybe it's something more." -"Then you understand the necessity of giving the law the upper hand." The image responds. "You see, the reason for all this violence and unrest is because people aren't afraid of the consquences of their actions. They don't fear punishment. They think they can engage in subversive action and get away with it. Therefore what we aspire to do is create something that -will- strike fear into the sparks of those who would defy the law, and in doing so create a safer and more peaceful environment for all." -"I have no problems with the law as the law. Just sometimes they get overzealous with the violence," Panacea says. "I think it's comes from being a people with weaponry built in. I'm sure that /does/ something to our minds." She sighs deeply. "The problem is that the people who /are/ following the law shouldn't be afraid. Only the ones who screw up should have something to worry about. So the people enforcing the law have to know the law inside and out so they know what's what." She shakes her head. "Blurr spent too much time being confused. We need a differen approach." -"Exactly. But as it is, they -are- afraid, because they are afraid of terrorists and criminals who can't be contained by the enforcers. We aim to change that to what it -should- be, that is, fear of punishment for potential criminals, and security for the law-abiding citizen--as you said. Ideally, potential criminals will never actually become criminals, because they would fear punishment from the law, therefore removing the need for any sort of violence at all." The VI nods in regard to her statement about Blurr. "I completely agree with you, Panacea. We need a different approach....I would suggest we indoctrinate him fully and truly, instead of trying to program him. Convince him to see things our way." -Panacea nods her head at this. "I'll talk with him. But, his speed also made it hard for us to make him accountable for his actions. There has to be something that will keep people on the same page..." She thinks for a few moments. "I wonder how those Insecticons do it," she muses after a bit. -"The Insecticons are...interesting. Hopefully someone will eventually crack that shell open." The VI replies. "But yes, you will need to speak with him. It will take time, no doubt, for him to come around. With patience, however, I do believe you can bring him to the place where he needs to be. He's young enough that his mind can still be written on. You can still shape who he is, and shape him into the person we need him to be....for the sake of Cybertron, -and- for that matter, the rest of the galaxy." -"They're a curious group, that's for certain," Panacea says about the Insecticons. "But as fast as he is, Blurr isn't enough. Do you have anything about any plans for what to try next?" she asks. "I'm not sure how far ahead your original was thinking." -"Oh, for sure. He is simply the first member." The image nods quickly. "I'm sure if you take the time to go through Cipher's notes, you will find some of his plans. He had a few options for team composition in mind, but -you- are the one in charge now, and thus it is ultimately your decision. You could use one of his ideas, or come up with your own. You still have some of the isolated sparks he appropriated, yes?" -Panacea nods her head at this. "I'm actually wondering if more can be done with the sparks themselves," she says. "If it might be possible to bond with the sparks before they're put into a frame, make a connection between a head of the group, so to speak. Generate a zone of trust and comfort. A more subtle approach than simply hammering in a program." She smiles faintly. "Blurr tried to turn to too many people for comfort. Perhaps if he had been nurtured differently..." -"Mmm. Perhaps! It's certainly worth pursuing." Cipher's VI smiles. "Well he certainly chose his successor well. I have no doubt that the Senate will be pleased with your ideas and efforts. Of course, if you ever have any questions or are wondering what Cipher might have had to say about something, then you may summon me at any time." -Panacea nods her head. "For now I need to finish getting moved to the new location as well as clean up around here. I'm pretty sure the Senate doesn't want its secrets getting out." She rubs her left arm with her right hand. "I don't suppose he put any information in you about the Kimia facility?" -The VI nods. "Yes, yes of course. Be sure to scrub it clean. We've already had enough leaks to speak of...Kimia. Ah, it is a research facility on the sub-orbital platform above Altihex. The Senate keeps many of its off-the-books projects running there, so it's no surprise that they want you to move there. It will be much more secure." -Panacea hmmmms. "Off the books research. Which means there will probably be other people doing various sensitive tasks. That means it's unlikely anyone will be interfering." She gives a sigh of relief. "That's one less thing to worry about I suppose. Well, I'm sure I'll be making use of your program again," she adds with a smile. "But for now, I need to finish up here." With that, she switches the program off and completes her tasks. -"Yes, of course." The VI smiles in return. "Looking forward to speaking with you again, Panacea." BLIP. The hologram quickly blinks out of existence.